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Re: Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

Originally Posted by GOTA

It's going to be a very different team next year. They really need to win this now.

Different, but not necessarily worse. The Ravens will get dramatically younger next year, and hopefully avoid the mistake the Steelers made of being married to their 30+ declining players for far too long.

I remember in the Denver playoff game, they mentioned that the Ravens were the oldest team in the NFL. They will probably move much closer to the middle of the pack, if not further, next year.

Let's not forget that the Ravens had 22 first or 2nd year players on their roster at some point in 2012.

That doesn't include Streeter or McAdoo (who is still the youngest guy on the roster)

With 11 incoming draft picks, we probably can count on roughly 28-30 out of our 53 spots on the 2013 Week One roster being occupied by players in their first 3 years in the league.

The 2012 Ravens had 8 players born before 1980. Of those eight, seven (Lewis, Reed, B. Williams, Birk, Chris Johnson, Kemoeau, McKinnie) are probably gone. Only Ayanbadejo likely will be back because of his extremely low cap number.

There's an outside chance, depending on what happens with Dejo and Quan and Leach, that Sam Koch (born 1982) might be oldest player on the 2013 roster.

Re: Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

Good post Luke. They will definitely be younger next year, but I wouldn't think worse. There are some good young players that are coming into their own. Not to mention the nucleus we have on offense is rock solid and should be prolific for years to come.

Given the state of our division, I would expect us to win it again next year.

Re: Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

Originally Posted by RavenScallywag

Ray saves us 4-5 Mil, which basically would give us enough room for the RFA, ERFA, and rookie pool

The rookie pool is a very small factor. Once we extend our ERFA offers (around $500k a piece), that will get us to our 51. Only your 1st, 2nd, and early 3rd round picks will make much more than the $500k of the lowest guy on the rule-of-51 ladder.

The Ravens are drafting 31st or 32nd, so their 1st rounder won't really make much more ($400-$600k) than the guy he'd be replacing on the 51. Our 2nd rounder, being #61 or 62, probably is only going to up the cap # $200-$250k. By the time we get around to drafting our 3rd rounder(s), that 3rd rounder probably isn't going to affect the cap # at all.

The 2013 draft class, even with 11 picks, probably won't alter our cap by more than $1.5 million in its entirety.

Re: Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

Originally Posted by alienrace

Good post Luke. They will definitely be younger next year, but I wouldn't think worse. There are some good young players that are coming into their own. Not to mention the nucleus we have on offense is rock solid and should be prolific for years to come.

Given the state of our division, I would expect us to win it again next year.

Well, I think the Steelers are 2-3 years away from being back in a position to be able to contend for the division. The Bengals and Browns are two ascending teams for sure though.

That saves around $17.34M and will put us in better position, it will allow us to sign one or two solid FAs while re-signing Kruger and Ellerbe (depending on how much they want) and the contracts will be back loaded, or they will be contracts were the first year cap hit is minimal. Yeah you can look at that list and say, yeah that's a significant amount of talent gone, but you have to make these tough choices, I believe we're still a play off team without these players anyway.

That saves around $17.34M and will put us in better position, it will allow us to sign one or two solid FAs while re-signing Kruger and Ellerbe (depending on how much they want) and the contracts will be back loaded, or they will be contracts were the first year cap hit is minimal. Yeah you can look at that list and say, yeah that's a significant amount of talent gone, but you have to make these tough choices, I believe we're still a play off team without these players anyway.

Are you sure that will save that much money? Are you taking dead money into account with those players?

Although Walsh's system of offense can compensate for lack of talent; however, defense is a different story. According to Walsh, talent on defense was essential and could not be compensated for. What did Walsh do in 1981? He acquired physical and talented players on defense.

Re: Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

Originally Posted by LukeDaniel

The rookie pool is a very small factor. Once we extend our ERFA offers (around $500k a piece), that will get us to our 51. Only your 1st, 2nd, and early 3rd round picks will make much more than the $500k of the lowest guy on the rule-of-51 ladder.

The Ravens are drafting 31st or 32nd, so their 1st rounder won't really make much more ($400-$600k) than the guy he'd be replacing on the 51. Our 2nd rounder, being #61 or 62, probably is only going to up the cap # $200-$250k. By the time we get around to drafting our 3rd rounder(s), that 3rd rounder probably isn't going to affect the cap # at all.

The 2013 draft class, even with 11 picks, probably won't alter our cap by more than $1.5 million in its entirety.

I also think its almost certain we wont be drafting 11 players, I think we may be seeing an odd year where we trade up in certain rounds. Currently I have us trading up in the 3rd round for Chris Faulk (OT, LSU) and picking Markus Wheaton (WR, Oregon state) with the other 3rd. That gives up a 4th, a 5th and a 6th in my estimation.

That saves around $17.34M and will put us in better position, it will allow us to sign one or two solid FAs while re-signing Kruger and Ellerbe (depending on how much they want) and the contracts will be back loaded, or they will be contracts were the first year cap hit is minimal. Yeah you can look at that list and say, yeah that's a significant amount of talent gone, but you have to make these tough choices, I believe we're still a play off team without these players anyway.

Not to put words in anyone's mouth, but I seem to recall B-more Ravor saying in another thread that Jameel McClain is likely to be kept in part because there's an awful lot of dead money involved in releasing him. Sorry I don't have the exact figures, but do you think McClain will be gone in spite of his dead money hit? I know that many aren't keen on his past performance, but he does provide experience in the middle to go along with Ellerbe (and I really, really hope we can keep Ellerbe).

What you have to understand is that is that trimming these 7 contracts off the roster doesn't save the $16.6 though, because you still have to fill their seven spots on the rule of 51 with another player. If you estimate that each of those players will make $500k, that's $3.5 right there. So the savings aren't quite as great. It's not as if dead money occupies one of the 51 slots.

That's why it might not make a ton of sense to cut Ayanbadejo. You really are only saving $400k.

That's also why it might not make sense to cut Jameel either. You can either pay him $4.2 towards 2013 or cut him and still pay $2.4 in dead money. If you assume that his replacement spot on the roster will be filled by a cheap rookie, the true savings is only $1.3 million

If you want to get a true cap savings by cutting a player, add $500 back on to the total. That is the total that is saved if replaced by a rookie/2nd year/ERFA on the 51 salary cap roster.

Now, the plus side is that when you sign a free agent not on your roster, the cap hit isn't as severe. If you sign Player A and his first year cap # is $3.25 million, the actual increase would be around $2.75 million because his addition to the rule of 51 will push a player who was making $500k off the roster.

Re: Salary Cap Notes: Corey Graham and Michael Oher cash in

Originally Posted by trailhiker85

Not to put words in anyone's mouth, but I seem to recall B-more Ravor saying in another thread that Jameel McClain is likely to be kept in part because there's an awful lot of dead money involved in releasing him. Sorry I don't have the exact figures, but do you think McClain will be gone in spite of his dead money hit? I know that many aren't keen on his past performance, but he does provide experience in the middle to go along with Ellerbe (and I really, really hope we can keep Ellerbe).

Exactly. I touched on this in the thread above. Keep him for $4.2 million or cut him and have $2.4 in dead money. It's the type of contract that makes you wonder if cutting him even makes sense.